Bill Singles Out Intelligence Czar

By DOUGLAS JEHL

Published: May 20, 2005

On Wednesday afternoon, as John D. Negroponte was being formally sworn at the White House as the director of national intelligence, a senior Republican lawmaker on Capitol Hill was circulating a proposal that would have imposed a strict new limit on Mr. Negroponte's power.

The lawmaker, Representative Duncan Hunter of California, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, dropped the idea after Mr. Negroponte's office caught wind of the plan and raised objections, according to Congressional officials of both parties. The two-page measure was to have been attached to the $441.6 billion military authorization bill that the committee approved early Thursday.

The skirmish signaled the resumption of a battle that divided Congress last year, when Mr. Hunter and other allies of the Pentagon initially blocked passage of the bill that created Mr. Negroponte's position over concerns that it would encroach on the powers of Pentagon agencies. Congressional officials from both parties said they would not be surprised to see Mr. Hunter's proposal resurface.

A spokesman for Mr. Negroponte said that his office was ''aware of the provisions being considered, and we would be opposed to any legislation that would restrict the D.N.I.'s authority'' in a way inconsistent with last year's intelligence bill.

The law gives Mr. Negroponte's office the power to set up new national intelligence centers, like one that has been recommended to focus on the spread of dangerous weapons. To staff the new centers, the law says, the director of national intelligence ''may transfer'' up to 100 intelligence personnel from other agencies, with approval from the Office of Management and Budget and in consultation with the appropriate Congressional committees.

The Hunter amendment would have turned that authority on its head, saying that the intelligence chief ''may not transfer personnel'' under that authority unless he first provided notice, in the form of a detailed explanation, to the Congressional committees and ''received a response'' from them.

The amendment was not made public, but a copy of it was provided by a Congressional Democrat opposed to the move. Mr. Hunter's office did not return repeated calls requesting comment on the action.

In practice, Congressional officials said, the measure would have meant that Mr. Negroponte would have had to seek at least tacit approval from Mr. Hunter or his staff to move personnel from the National Security Agency, for example, to help staff a new national counterproliferation center, when it is established.

The security agency remains part of the Pentagon, as do most of the rest of the 15 intelligence agencies that Mr. Negroponte is to oversee. His authority over them remains ambivalent at best under the legislation.